Bad news: Al and James seem to be spending a lot of time together. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “What’s so bad about a little bit of brotherly bonding?” But I’ve heard my name crop up in their conversations more than once and they both keep looking at me then looking away.

Two days after the match, Tuesday, James managed to corner me on my way back from the library (yes, I know – library! I was just looking for a place to hide from Al and James, who’d been stalking me a bit). He’d been hiding behind a tapestry and he grabbed my arm as I passed and yanked me in with him.

“James!” I screamed. “KIDNAP! KIDNAP!”

He clamped a hand over my mouth. Yeah, great way to make this not look like a kidnap, James. Now, his hand was kind of sweaty and gross, so I bit him.

“Ow! Bitch!” James yelped, dragging his hand away and examining the bite mark. “What, do you have titanium teeth or something? That hurt like fuck!”

Jaaaammesss, idiot!

As soon as the bastard said the dreaded “F” word, a loud siren started blaring out and a grumbling sound came from nowhere. Ginny’s face appeared in the air, glaring down at James.

“I heard that, Potter.” Ginny snapped at him.

Let me explain this whole “profanity ban” thing a little more. Like you know, James swore in front of Monique, Teddy and Vic’s daughter, so Ginny banned us all from swearing. As in, actually banned us. Not like, “Oh, don’t swear!” She actually put some sort of charm on us so she was alerted if one of us swore. She allowed words like bastard or bitch (I’ve been using that last word a LOT lately), but not reeeally bad words.

“Have you been swearing too, Geli?” Ginny demanded.

“No! Not me!”

“And why exactly have you been swearing?” She turned to her son, who cowered.

“Well, she bit me, and it really hurt, so I –”

“Why did you bite James?” Ginny said to me, looking amused.

“He tried to kidnap me, Ginny! Your sons are crazy psychopaths!” I said to her, glaring at James.

“Pfft, tell me about it,” Ginny agreed, nodding her head

“Thanks, Mum!” James snapped, glowering at his mother.

“No problem.” She grinned at him. “So, I’m extending your ban by three months until you can learn properly to not swear.”

“Does it even matter? I don’t see Monique anywhere.”

Ginny’s image glared, then disappeared.

“Great. Thanks a lot, bitch.” James hissed at me.

“Not my fault you tried to kidnap me!” I said.

“You bit me!”

“You tried to rape me!”

“What? No I didn’t! I just wanted to talk to you.”

“… By kidnapping me and attempting to rape me?”

“When did I try to rape you?” He started sounding hysterical.

“In my mind.” Okay, so looking back, that probably wasn’t the best response I could have come up with.

“Well, this has all been lovely, but I have somewhere to be.” I started walking quickly towards the tapestry without breaking into a run, but James swiftly stepped in front of me.

“Like I said, I just want to talk to you.” He pushed me gently against the wall and held my arms to keep me there. Wow. So tactful. “So Brandon likes you, right?”

“Nooo,” I said sarcastically, pulling my “OMG, you are so dumb” face at him.

He ignored me. “And I said to you, if he hurt you, you’d go out with me, and you agreed?”

“Well, that wasn’t exactly a binding promise. You should’ve made me swear upon Styx, even though that probably doesn’t even exist and we’re not even Greek, but –”

“You agreed,” James interrupted, glaring. How extremely rude.

“Where exactly is this going?”

“Um … I don’t know how to put this, but I caught him snogging Alice.”

“Really.”

“Yeah! I’m telling the truth. Last night, really late, I couldn’t sleep so I went down to the common room and they were just standing there snogging!” James insisted. Bless him, the poor guy was trying pretty hard.

“Luca. Yeah.” James looked at me sympathetically, but returned to his cocky expression in seconds. “Anyway, I did see him snogging Alice. Brown hair and everything.”

“Wait, did you see his face?”

“Well, no, it was dark. But it was him.”

“I’ll go and ask him then, shall I?” I said. “You come too, so I can prove how wrong you are.” I grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him out from behind the tapestry and all the way up to the common room, where Brandon was lounging around on the sofa. Al and Nadine were wrapped up in an armchair (Nadine seemed to have forgiven him immediately) and the others were scattered around the common room, doing homework, reading books, or just relaxing. I quickly let go of James’s shirt and flung myself into Brandon’s arms.

“James here tells me you were snogging Alice last night.”

All conversation stopped. Well, not all conversation. The people we didn’t know just carried on as if nothing had happened. Stupid, uncaring gits.

Rose and Molly looked up from their homework. Dom paused, her lipgloss wand halfway to her lips. Hugo and Lily dropped the huge thick book they were looking through and even Al and Nadine detatched themselves from each other to stop and stare.

Alice stood up from her spot by the fireplace.

“Well, I guess I should tell you guys.”

“You’ve been having an affair with Brandon?” James gasped, looking at me pointedly.

“Prove it, then.” James sat up on his elbows and studied me carefully. “Prove it.”

“How? I’m already with Brandon, who I love very much. What else am I supposed to do?” I asked, huffing.

“I want you to go down there, look him in the eye and tell him you don’t love him. And then slap him. Hard.” James smirked.

“You want me to slap your own brother?” I said, raising an eyebrow at him. James shrugged. “Fine. I’ll do it.” I ripped apart the hangings and marched back down the stairs. “OI!” I yelled at Al. “Douchebag!”

I glanced back to see James looking down at the common room, grinning.

“You know you’re weird.” I laughed, and he grinned at me. “Geli.” He suddenly sounded all serious, so I looked up at him. “Kiss me.”

“What?” I jumped up from the bed. “No.”

He shook his head. “Sorry.” He dropped his gaze to the floor, then glanced up at me.

Aww … his eyes were so brown … and he was so innocent, like “Geli, kiss me!” Unlike stupid Al, who pinned me against a wall and tried to seduce me. Grr.

So suddenly I found myself moving towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder and bringing his face closer to mine. He looked kind of shocked but pleased at the same time as his hands snaked around my waist and pulled me closer.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, but I ignored him, moving myself closer still. He wasn’t pulling away, but he wasn’t moving forwards, either. It felt like years until he finally pressed his lips against mine and relaxed a little.

Now, I know, “Geliwtfareyouthinkingyouhaveaboyfriend??”

This probably sounds so clichéd, but James’s kisses were different to Brandon’s. I thought that Brandon was a good kisser, but, Merlin, he’s like a three-year-old compared to James (not that I know how a three-year-old kisses). It occurred to me that James had more experience with this type of thing (with the amount of girlfriends he’s had), the way he held me close but not too hard, how his lips moved with force but not too roughly.

I probably should have pulled away right then, but I found myself tightening my hold around his neck, forcing him even closer to me.

“Geli,” he moaned. “We should –”

I jumped back from him and held up my hands. “Stop. I know. Sorry. That was wrong.”

His eyes flicked over my shoulder and I whirled round, karate chopping the air and screaming,

“CHOP BLOODY SUEY!”

You know, just in case.

But there wasn’t anyone standing there, so I felt kind of awkward, but James was smirking again.

“You know … the door’s closed …”

“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed. We should – we should open it. We might suffocate in here or something.” I gabbled, hurrying towards the door. Before I could get there, James grabbed my arm. Damn it, what have I got myself into?

“They won’t really miss us, will they?”

“I’ve got a boyfriend,” I said automatically, though we both knew that wouldn’t work at all.

“You don’t care, do you? I bet you used that excuse on Al, and you still nearly kissed him. And besides, that was a pretty damn good kiss, don’t you agree?” James raised his eyebrows, folding his arms across his chest.

YES! YESYESYEEEEESS! BLOODY HELL, YES!

“I guess so.”

“And you’d like to try again?”

OH MY GOD WHY ARE YOU EVEN ASKING? YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!

“Maybe.”

“You have a boyfriend, you know.”

“For Merlin’s sake, do you want to kiss me or not?” I snapped, glaring at him. His lips curved into a sly smile, but he didn’t reply. Merlin, he’s annoying. But he’s a good kisser, so I don’t really mind.

Then, suddenly, James had his arms round my waist and his lips against mine again. By now they felt kind of familiar so I started to kiss him back with force.

God, I have no morals.

I ran my fingers through his hair as he trailed a hand up and down my back, over my shoulders and drawing light circles on my neck.

All of a sudden, his shirt was unbuttoned and I was running my hands over his chest.

“Geli?” someone called. I could hear them coming up the stairs. James and I froze and turned to stare at the door as if it had sprouted wings and started tap dancing. Then it started opening. At the last second, I grabbed James in a headlock and turned so we had our backs to the door. He started quickly doing up his shirt.

“Geli, what are you doing to James?”

“Brandon! Hi!” I said, turning round once James’s shirt was done up. “James said he wanted to practice some wrestling, so I volunteered to help.”

“Hi.” James said, waving from behind the headlock. He was grinning, but I didn’t know why, until I realised his head was squished up against my boob. I quickly let go of his head and hurried over to Brandon, hugging his arm.

James plonked himself onto his bed and picked up a book. He glanced over at us. Craaaapp. His lips were swollen and his hair was all mussed up. Crap, they were the signs you’d just been snogging someone, weren’t they?

Brandon peered at me closely and I flicked my eyes over to the small mirror hanging on the wall. Damn it.

“Soo, back downstairs then?” I said cheerfully, shooting James with a warning look when Brandon wasn’t looking.

“Sure,” James said, leaping off the bed and rushing straight past us. I heard him bounding down the stairs. I was about to follow him but Brandon stopped me.

“I suck my lips a lot. Haven’t you noticed?” I demonstrated this for him. “And you know what James is like. Once he forgot to bring any shoes with him after the summer. Ginny had to send them over. And then there was this one time when –”

“I get the point, Geli. Don’t lie to me. Did you kiss him?”

“No!” I insisted. “Look, you’ve basically only just forgiven me for what happened with Al, do you really think I’d move onto his brother?”

“I know he likes you, though.”

“That doesn’t mean I like him back.” I retorted. “You can ask him. He’ll say no, because James doesn’t lie.”

“Fine. I will.” He glared at me then shot past me. I followed him, nibbling my nails nervously.

“James,” Brandon said loudly as he sat down with the others. “Did you –”

He was interrupted by Hugo, who happened to burst inside at that moment and announce, “Guys! I’m changing my name.”

“To what?” Rose asked.

“Hugh Jundies.”

“Hugh Jundies. As in –”

“Hey, don’t diss the Jundies, sis.” Hugo looked deadly serious. He stared at us and we stared back, and then we all started laughing. Hugo was not amused. “I’m being serious. I sent a letter to Mum and Dad and they replied just now.” He held up a piece of parchment.

“What’s it say?” Al asked.

Hugo cleared his throat. “Ahem. ‘Dear Hugo, it’s your choice. We will support you through your times of change and tribulation. You may name yourself Hugh Jundies, but to us you will always be ickle-wickle Huggie. Lots of love, Mum and Dad.’ See, Mum and Dad support me!”

Rose snorted. “Whatever. See you later, undie boy.” Hugo scowled at us then jumped back out of the portrait hole.

“I don’t get it.” Nadine said. We stared at her. “Why is this so funny? Hugh Jundies is just a name.”

“Hugh … Jundies.” I said slowly. “Huge … undies. Get it now?”

Nadine shook her head. I rolled my eyes at her and she glared at me, snuggling closer to Al, who looked at me like “I still can’t believe you didn’t kiss me you weirdo”.

“Anyway,” Brandon said. “James, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Shoot.”

“Shoot what?”

“I meant ask the question.”

“Oh. Well, anyway, did you kiss Geli?”

“That depends when you mean.” James said, looking at Brandon questioningly. I sort of choked on my own spit just then. James smirked at me then went on to say, “Because I kissed her in first year and then she slapped me –”

“You never told me about that!” Rose said, her mouth open.

Err … because it never even damn happened!

Dom was looking sort of annoyed but amused at the same time.

“I mean just now.” Brandon said. “When you two were upstairs.”

Everyone stared. Al looked back and forth between me and James and Dom’s jaw dropped to the floor.

“No, I didn’t. I didn’t kiss Geli either.” James said. “So what if my shirt buttons are done up wrong? I forgot my shoes once. I’m just like that.”

I looked at Brandon. “I told you he didn’t kiss me. How come you didn’t believe me?”

“It’s paranoia, darling,” Dom said as she went back to reapplying her lipgloss. She snapped her compact mirror shut and looked at me. “It happened to all my boyfriends. Meh, you’ll get over it, Brandon.”

He still looked quite moody. I was like, “BITCH DEAL WITH IT”, but obviously not out loud. James kept shooting me with suggestive glances (figuratively – he didn’t get a gun and load it with glances and go pewpewpew with it at me) and Brandon held his arms so tightly around me I couldn’t breathe.

Al was glaring at James as Nadine sat on his lap and kissed his face (eurgh) and Rose chatted about homework and geeky things.

“Well,” I said, standing up and stretching, “I’m off to bed.”

“Err, yeah, me too.” James said, getting up also. I scowled at him dangerously and he sat down again. “Or maybe not.”

“I’m beat,” Rose yawned, getting to her feet. She smiled at everyone and waved as we trudged up the stairs. As soon as the door shut behind me, she pinned me to my bed and said, “All right, what the hell was all that about?”

“What was what about?” I squeaked.

Hark! Look yonder at the aggressive Weasley Woman now attempting to torture her best friend for information!

“You know what I mean. Why did Brandon think you kissed James?”

“I don’t know! He walked in on us while we were wrestling.”

“You were wrestling with James.”

“Yeah! I don’t see how he got that from a bout of harmless wrestling …”

“What actually happened?” Rose demanded.

“Um … well … maybe we did kiss … a bit … probably …”

“Ugh! What is it with you and my cousins? So what, do you like James now?” Rose growled, squeezing my arms hard and glaring at me.

“Ow! No! It was just one kiss … or maybe two, but nothing actually– well, he did unbutton his shirt and –” I admitted, feeling guilty.

“Ew! No! I don’t want to know!” Rose released my arms and stormed over to her bed. I rubbed my wrists and sat up.

“Nothing happened. He only unbuttoned his shirt.”

“And if Brandon hadn’t walked in? Then what?” Rose kicked open her trunk and pulled out her pyjamas. I did the same, but I just opened the trunk normally with my hands. I don’t get how you can kick it open. I tried once. I broke all my toes and couldn’t walk for two months. God, everyone else must have really strong toes. Or maybe my toes are just weak. Like my bloody morals are.

“I don’t know,” I said, taking off my shirt and pulling on my spaghetti strap tank top. “I probably would have remembered Brandon and slapped him, screamed something about rape and run away.”

“Probably. Meaning you most likely wouldn’t have done all that … wacko stuff and done it –”

“My parents wouldn’t care if I jumped off a cliff into a pool of very hungry sharks. You know that more than anyone.” Just to prove my point, I threw my bra at her. I kicked off my skirt and tugged on my sleep-shorts and got into bed.

“Geli, I’m sorry.”

“I heard you.” I snapped. My bra landed on the end of my bed as I yanked the hangings around. The last I saw was Rose standing at the foot of her bed looking ashamed of herself before the red material shut her out.

Tap. Tap. Tap tap tap.

“Bloody hell,” I groaned, rubbing my eyes and getting out of bed. The noise was coming from the window next to my bed. I looked at my watch on the bedside table. “Bloody hell, it’s two o’clock in the morning!” I opened the curtains. “James, what the hell are you doing outside the window? Do you know what time it is?”

“Let me in,” he mouthed, so I pushed the window open and let him float inside on his broom. He put the broom on the floor and stood there looking at me. He was wearing a pair of tracksuit bottoms and … (gulp) no shirt.

“What?” I hissed. “I’m very grouchy when I’m woken up at two in the morning!”

“So you think I’m a good snog then?” he asked me.

… He woke me up to ask me if he thought he was a good snog. I honestly do not know what goes through that boy’s mind.

“Well, obviously you are. Otherwise I wouldn’t have kissed you again.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Geli?” someone mumbled. “What’s going on?” It was Molly.

“Get in there!” I whispered to James.

“In your bed?” He smirked. I scowled at him and he jumped under the covers.

Molly parted the hangings a little and her sleepy face peered out at me.

“Nothing,” I said. “Just going to the bathroom.” Molly’s face retreated and I heard her collapse onto her bed and start snoring. I sat on my bed and quickly pulled the hangings round. I prodded James and he wormed his way out of the covers.

“Your bed smells nice.”

“Yes, because I’m a girl, which means I shower regularly and make sure my bed doesn’t smell like a bloody pigsty, which yours did.” I growled. “Would you be so kind as to leave now?”

“Meh … don’t really feel like it.”

“And why exactly not?” I demanded, staring at him angrily.

“Got a pretty nice view right here.” He leaned back on his elbows and looked me up and down. I looked at myself and realised I was only wearing a skimpy, low-cut tank top and short-shorts. It’s an outfit Nadine-slut herself would be proud of.

I quickly grabbed my duvet and pulled it over myself in an attempt to cover myself up but just ended up falling on top of James.

He laughed quietly and smirked again. Bloody hell, what is it with the guy and smirking?

“I’m going to slap you really hard now.” I snapped.

“Well, why don’t you just kiss me instead?” he asked, tilting his head to one side and smiling crookedly.

I thought about this for a second. But then I thought, “You know, damn my morals” and I crashed my lips against his.

He rolled over so he was on top and his hands started moving up my top. I ran my hands over his abs and linked my fingers around his neck, pulling him closer. He paused for a moment and quickly looked round as if he expected some creepy perv to be looking through the hangings at us. Then his eyes fell on the bra that was still at the end of my bed.

“You’re not wearing a bra?”

“Nobody wears a bloody bra to bed, it’s just weird and uncomfortable.” I rolled my eyes at him again.

“Well, I wouldn’t know. I don’t wear a bra.”

“Really? I’d have thought, you know, you being you, you’d have stolen one of Ginny’s and tried it on.”

“Okay, well, maybe I did do that – when I was three – but I’ve … err … forgotten … what it feels like.” James muttered, blushing.

“You want me to remind you?” I grinned, pushing him off me and reaching for the bra.

“No thanks!” James yelped. “I’d rather not!”

“Aww, c’mon, it’ll be funny!” I said, waving the bra in his face.

“Not for me!” He started backing away, looking terrified. “I bet it hurts!”

“Seriously, if a wimp like Dom can wear these every day, I’m sure you can, and you’re a damn Quidditch player.” I jumped on him and pinned his arms above his head. “You’re putting this on.”

“Whyyyy,” he moaned, squirming. I managed to slip the straps over his arms and forced him to roll over so I could do up the clasp. “Stooop,” he squealed. “It hurrrts!”

I snorted. “Who’d have thought mighty James Potter would be defeated by a girl’s bra?” I let go of his arms and he sat up, moving his arms in a windmill motion.

“It’s quite comfortable actually. Can I keep it?”

“No. It’s mine.” I sat back and crossed my arms. “Take it off now.”

He reached behind and I heard his shoulders click. “It’s too hard! How do you do this every day?”

“You’re so pathetic,” I giggled, kneeling behind him to take off the bra.

“You’re just plain mean,” he said after I’d taken the straps off. I put the bra back at the end of the bed and knelt next to him.

“You want to go now?” I asked.

“Not quite yet,” James said. “I want to ask you something.”

“What is it?” I asked, kicking the duvet away and getting under it, propping myself on my forearms and looking at him.

“Well …” He fiddled with the strings on his tracksuit. “You’re a good kisser … I’m a good kisser … we like kissing each other … wait, you do like kissing me, right?” He looked up at me and glared.

“Obviously,” I said.

“Yeah, anyway, we like kissing each other, but the only problem is Brandon, isn’t it?”

“Like I’m going to tell him I’ve been snogging his girlfriend in her bed,” James said sarcastically. “I’m not stupid. Anyway, I was thinking, maybe we could continue this snogging business, but, you know, not in broad daylight when anyone could see us, or at night when we could wake up other people.”

“Like friends with benefits?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I guess. I mean, only if you want to. And, like, there’d be rules and stuff …” James said nervously, making his eyes wide and pleading. Darn, how could I resist that look?

“Hit me with the rules,” I said. “Not literally! That would hurt. I think. Do rules hurt? I mean, they’re not a physical thing, but – okay, I’m rambling. Shut up now, Geli.”

“Firstly, nobody can know.” Captain Obvious makes a comeback. “Second, you don’t have to get involved in all that stuff about feelings.”

“But you like me, don’t you?”

“But you don’t like me back, do you?” I dropped my gaze to the bedsheet. James was quiet for a minute, but then he went on. “Like I said, you don’t have to like me back or anything. We only meet up at night, okay? So nobody gets suspicious or anything.”

“No hickeys either,” I said quickly.

“Right. Because you and Brandon are rocky enough and we don’t want to explain anything to anyone.” I nodded. “That’s it. So what do you think?” James looked at me apprehensively.

“You know, I was actually fine snogging you like this.” I reminded him, scooting myself closer.

“I am being serious, Geli,”

“Yeah, and so am I,” I replied, creeping my hands up his chest. He sighed. “Jaaaaaaames,” I said, sticking out my bottom lip.

“Just think about it,” James said, before placing a hand on either side of my waist and pulling me in for a kiss.

When I woke up the next morning, my bed was very warm. I still had my clothes on (thank goodness) and when I turned round I saw James was still here. He had one arm draped over me and he was lying very close.

“Damn!” I hissed. “James!” I slapped him and he woke up, sleepily blinking and rubbing his eyes and looking (dare I say it?) very cute.

“Where am I?” he muttered.

“In my bed! And you have to leave! Like, now!” I pinched his arm to wake him up more.

“Why am I in your bed? What happened last night?” he asked, grinning slyly.

“No! That didn’t happen, you dirty child! You have to go now!” I crawled over him and peered out of the hangings. “Nobody’s awake yet. Go now while you can.”

James groaned and reached under the bed to get his broom. I scrambled out of the duvet and held the window open for him to jump on his broom and fly out. At the last minute, he turned and said,

“Remember what I said last night,”

“I will. And I’ll – I’ll think about it, okay?” James nodded at me and smiled as he flew away.

I quickly shut the window and slid back into bed.

Ugh.

When I heard the others yawning and moving about, I crawled slowly out of bed and looked at them. For some reason, Dom, Rose, Molly and Alice were grinning at me as if we were all sharing some sort of dirty secret (we weren’t), while Nadine-bitch just went about her business like usual.

While I was getting changed, the four of them were staring at me.

“Excuse me,” I said, “pervy much?”

They stopped staring.

We met the guys in the Great Hall and barged our way between them. I was wedged between Brandon and Al (great) and opposite James.

Rose nudged Alice, who smirked and looked up at me. “So, Geli, you were making a lot of noise last night.”

“Was I?” I said mildly, prodding my cereal with the spoon.

“Oh, yes. You were talking to someone.”

“Must have been myself. I talk in my sleep sometimes, have you noticed?” I said, chancing a quick glance at James.

“And,” Alice went on, “quite a bit of moaning, too.”

“Probably had a nightmare or something. I don’t really remember what I dreamt about last night.” I felt Brandon tense next to me and Al’s head turned to look at me.

“The window was open last night,” Molly interrupted, “and I saw a broom under your bed.”

“I didn’t see a broom under my bed this morning,” I said. “And the window was shut, wasn’t it?”

Molly, Alice, Rose and Dom all raised their eyebrows at the same time.

“What?” I said.

Dom’s cousin Fred, who was in the same year as James, decided to put in,

“I heard you sneaking out last night, James,”

James glared at him. “I went to the kitchens. I was hungry.”

“And you only came back this morning?”

“Hold on a fan-diddly-second,” Al said, holding up a finger. “Let me get this straight. So, Geli was talking to someone last night and – ahem – moaning – and also last night, James snuck out of the dorm and didn’t come back until morning.”

They stared at him blankly.

“Hello? Both of them … at night … James sneaks out … Geli making noises? Get it now?”

“Ooooh …”

“Excuse me!” I said loudly. “Are you saying me and James –”

“That’s exactly what we’re saying, hon,” Nadine said sweetly from the other side of Al.

“This is because Brandon asked James if he kissed me, isn’t it? You’ve got it into your heads that me and James are doing immoral things together. Which we’re not,” I added quickly.

“I don’t need this verbal abuse,” I said, standing up. “See you in lessons, child abusers.” I picked up my bag and walked out of the Hall.

Stupid gits.

Okay, maybe they weren’t that stupid.

I trailed up the stairs, intending to go to Transfiguration, even though there were still twenty minutes until classes started, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Geli,” they whispered into my ear. I turned round.

“Brandon,” I said. “Listen, don’t believe the bull they’re coming out with in there. They’ve all got unhealthily hyperactive imaginations. And besides, you know I’d never do anything with James –”

He didn’t say anything, but he looked at me and I shut up. He took my hand and led me through the castle into an empty corridor.

After checking we were alone, he faced me and said,

“Geli, I’m r-really sorry about this, but –”

Ohh. I know what’s coming.

“You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?” I said, biting my lip to stop myself crying. Okay, maybe I was getting a little tired of him, but that doesn’t mean breakups don’t hurt like hell.

Brandon gave a little nod. I dropped his hand.

“Okay.”

“What, you – you’re not upset?”

“Just because I’m not crying and hysterically breaking down in tears it doesn’t mean I’m not upset,” I said quietly. “Well … see you.”

I started walking away from him.

“Geli, wait!” he called.

Dude, you just broke up with me and now you’re expecting me to wait?! Dude!

I ignored him and started walking quicker. Once I couldn’t hear him calling or his footsteps, I leaned against the wall and burst into tears.

“Geli!” someone squealed, and suddenly I was wrapped in someone’s arms, suffocating against their chest. “What happened, huh?”

I struggled my way out of their grip and found myself looking at Rose. I tried to talk, but I made sounds like a deranged fish. I probably looked like one too. Then Rose looked at someone behind me and I tilted my head to see. It was Brandon. To try and get my point across, I started sobbing again and buried my face in Rose’s shoulder.

“What did you do, you bastard?” Rose growled.

“Nothing!”

“You’ve done something! You tell me now or so help me I’ll bust your ass so hard you’ll be crying out of your ears!”

I love my friends, really.

“I didn’t do anything!” Brandon protested.

“Yes you did,” I sniffed, turning in Rose’s arms to glare at him. “You bloody broke up with me after these gits made up those stupid rumours about me and James!”

“So what? Maybe it was the right thing to do! After all, you and James do seem to be spending a lot of time together lately!”

“Yeah, because we’re friends! What’s wrong with that? Next you’ll say me and Rose are, like, lesbian or something because we’re together a lot!”

“Don’t be stupid, Geli,” Brandon said. “You’re being ridiculous –”

Rose suddenly dropped me. With a scream, she vaulted over me and jumped on Brandon, tearing at his hair and clawing at his face.

After getting over the shock of it, I started to laugh. Everyone knows that, after breaking up with a girl, you never say she’s being ridiculous, especially in front of her psychotic best friend.

“Rose, what – whoa,” Alice and Molly came skidding round the corner.

“Um,” Molly said, “what exactly happened here?”

“Oh, Brandon broke up with me and then he called me ridiculous so Rose started attacking him,” I said, gesturing to the scramble on the floor.

Molly snorted.

“WHAT THE HELL YOU CRAZY BITCH?”

Nadine suddenly appeared out of nowhere, closely followed by James, Al, Lily and Hugo. Nadine pushed past me, Molly and Alice and grabbed Rose’s shoulders, trying to get her off her brother.

“AAAAAAARRRGHH!” Rose screamed as Nadine managed to get her off Brandon and threw her down on the floor. Rose clutched at her shoulders and started to cry.

“NOBODY MESSES WITH MY ROSIE!” I shrieked, now leaping on Nadine.

I rolled her over and sat on her stomach. And then I slapped her. Like, quite hard.

“My face!” she groaned, grabbing at her cheek.

You know what, I quite like slapping people. So I slapped her other cheek.

“Stop it!” Two hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back.

“LET ME AT THE BITCH!” I yelled, struggling against the hands and trying to get to Nadine again. Brandon was rolling about, moaning, hands at his face.

I was lifted off the floor and let go of, but as soon as the hands let go, I screamed,

“KARATE CHOP!” and flew at her again.

“ANGELICA BLUE!” A loud voice rang through the hall. The Headmaster, Professor Longbottom, was marching up the stairs looking outraged. “WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?”

“Well, you see, Da– Professor,” Alice said, stepping towards her father bravely, “you see, Brandon –” she pointed at the pathetic child on the floor “– broke up with Geli, and then Rose came and Brandon called Geli ridiculous, and you know you should never do that, so Rose started to attack Brandon, and then me and Molly came and then Nadine, James, Al, Lily and Hugo came and then Nadine started to attack Rose and then Geli got mad so she jumped on Nadine, and –”

Neville looked at Alice, who smiled angelically at him, for a moment, before turning to me and quickly prising me off Nadine. He then helped up Brandon and handed him to James, who held him up straight. He then gently gave Rose to Molly and Nadine to Alice.

Alice squeaked and hurried off with Nadine, and Rose and James followed suit.

“Get to classes, you four,” Professor Longbottom said to me, Al, Lily and Hugo.

We quickly scampered off.

Lily and Hugo said goodbye and headed off to wherever they were going, while Al and I awkwardly walked along together towards Transfiguration.

“So Brandon broke up with you then?” Al asked casually.

“It’s none of your business,”

“I’m your best friend’s cousin, and also the guy you actually like, so that kind of makes it my business,” he stated, as if I’d suddenly get on my knees and start begging him to snog me. I wasn’t going to. Probably.

“She’s not going to like that,” I said, “she’ll probably hunt me down and … I don’t know … harpoon me.”

“Where’s she going to get a harpoon from?”

“This is Hogwarts, idiot. Don’t ask things like that!”

It was so awkward. It was the first time we’d been alone since he cornered me, and I was half afraid he’d do it again. (The other half of me hoped he would do it again, but nobody needs to know about that, so shh)

We passed through a tapestry to take a shortcut and Al hesitated. I was screaming at myself inside to just pretend I hadn’t noticed and to carry on walking, but I stopped, turned and said,

“Piss off,” I snarled, slapping him hard on his cheek, but that only made him tighten his told on my shoulder and grin. “You’re a sick, sadistic freak, you know that?”

Of course, he wasn’t really a sick, sadistic freak, but I had to get him to let go somehow.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer so I was flush up against him. I could feel his breath on my face and I forced myself not to look into his eyes, because I knew that, if I did, I’d be overcome with need and start snogging his face off.

“Stop,” I mumbled, but it was no good. Al leaned his head in close and I tilted mine up so my lips could meet his –

I arrived at Transfiguration while everyone was filing inside. I slipped in with everyone else and took my place. Alice wasn’t here yet, and I usually sat with her. Al came walking in two minutes later, glaring at me as he sat next to some Ravenclaw guy.

When Alice came tiptoeing in, she quickly sat down and said sorry to Professor McGonagall, who didn’t ask for an explanation.

“What happened to you?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I said.

“You look like something’s happened. I see it in your face. Tell me.”

So I hastily told her what happened. All through Transfig, she kept shooting Al murderous glares. Afterwards, as we were leaving, Alice quietly slipped after him, but not before muttering to me,

“Please excuse me while I go kill him.”

I KNOW, I KNOW, WHAT A RUBBISH ENDING, RIGHT?? But I’m sorry! I really didn’t know how to end it and the chapter was getting pretty long but I hope you liked the chapter! Soo, Geli and Brandon broke up? And what do you think of James’s offer? Let me know in a review and hopefully the next chapter will be up soon